The Mets trying to get by with Jose Reyes down with a strained hamstring, which means everybody must pick up the slack, including Jason Bay, who is hitting .254 with 10 homers and 70 RBI in two seasons with the Mets.

With David Wright and Ike Davis on the disabled list, and Reyes a possibility to join them shortly, the Mets will need all they can get out of Bay.

General manager Sandy Alderson said the Mets would deal with caution regarding Reyes.

“We have to take it one day at a time,’’ Alderson said. “We’re not making any predictions at the moment. We’ll just see how he responds and the symptoms he demonstrates over the next few days. I’m sure he’ll want to play. I’m sure he’ll want to play in the All-Star Game. That’s something we have to look at.’’

Too often in the past the Mets acquiesced to Reyes’ demands to play, but the stakes are higher this time. The direction the Mets will take at the trade deadline is largely dependent on how well the team is playing and Reyes’ health over the next few weeks.

Beginning tonight in Los Angeles, the Mets open a West Coast trip against the Dodgers and Giants, then close out the month against Philadelphia, St. Louis, Florida and Cincinnati.

It is not a stretch to say the remainder of this month will be spent on the edge, that whether this team packs it in as has long been speculated or makes a run at salvaging a season, we’ll know it all in the next few weeks.

We’ll know whether the Mets will still feature Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez and perhaps Reyes, or another group of non-descript players.

Here’s tonight’s lineup in Los Angeles:

The Mets are trying to get by with Jose Reyes down with a strained hamstring, which means everybody must pick up the slack, including Jason Bay, who is hitting .254 with 10 homers and 70 RBI in two seasons with the Mets.

With David Wright and Ike Davis on the disabled list, and Reyes a possibility to join them shortly, the Mets will need all they can get out of Bay.

General manager Sandy Alderson said the Mets would deal with caution regarding Reyes.

“We have to take it one day at a time,’’ Alderson said. “We’re not making any predictions at the moment. We’ll just see how he responds and the symptoms he demonstrates over the next few days. I’m sure he’ll want to play. I’m sure he’ll want to play in the All-Star Game. That’s something we have to look at.’’

Too often in the past the Mets acquiesced to Reyes’ demands to play, but the stakes are higher this time. The direction the Mets will take at the trade deadline is largely dependent on how well the team is playing and Reyes’ health over the next few weeks.

Beginning tonight in Los Angeles, the Mets open a West Coast trip against the Dodgers and Giants, then close out the month against Philadelphia, St. Louis, Florida and Cincinnati.

It is not a stretch to say the remainder of this month will be spent on the edge, that whether this team packs it in as has long been speculated or makes a run at salvaging a season, we’ll know it all in the next few weeks.

We’ll know whether the Mets will still feature Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez and perhaps Reyes, or another group of non-descript players.

Timing is everything, and all of a sudden this isn’t a good time for the Mets. After a sparkling road trip to Texas and Detroit, the Mets have dropped three straight and fallen 7.5 games off the wild-card pace.

REYES: Will have MRI today.

Is this the start of the July slide some feared that propel the Mets into a fire sale?

They hope to avoid being swept by the Yankees today, then head to the West Coast for series against the Dodgers and Giants, where they usually don’t play well. You might recall it was this trip last season – which featured an ailing Jose Reyes – that derailed their slim wild card hopes.

And, it could be happening again this year, with Reyes pulling up lame with a hamstring injury yesterday. Reyes and muscle pulls haven’t gotten along, first at the beginning of his career and the last two seasons.

We won’t know the severity of Reyes’ injury until a MRI today, but what it does do is give us a glimpse into what the Mets have feared and one of their concerns in offering him a long-term deal in the neighborhood of six or seven years.

Reyes sustained hamstring issues at the beginning of his career and muscle pulls the past two seasons, very alarming for a player who makes his living with his legs.

History tells us Reyes won’t last the duration of his next contract without an injury. Common sense also tells us if his current injury is severe and lands him on the disabled list for several weeks and his immediate health is an issue, it might make it more difficult to deal, especially if the Mets don’t offer a negotiating window to the other team.

Reyes says he’s not concerned, but that’s putting on a brave face. How can he not be worried?

Koufax had a dominating six-year run from 1961-66, when he was named the National League MVP in 1963, and won the Cy Young Award in 1963, 65 and 66. His career was cut short at the age of 30 with arthritis.

At 36 years and 20 days, he was the youngest entry into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Koufax played basketball at the University of Cincinnati, and played for the baseball team in 1954. He was scouted by the Dodgers, but the report was lost.

Koufax later tried out for the Giants and Pirates – neither of which offered a contract – and the Dodgers again. This time, he was signed for $6,000 with a $14,000 signing bonus.

A close friend of owner Fred Wilpon, Koufax is a frequent visitor to the Mets’ spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and tutors the pitchers most every spring.

After a long drought, Koufax is back in the Dodgers’ family. The Dodgers hired him to be a minor league pitching coach in 1979, but he resigned in 2000, the departure blamed on an uneasy relationship with then Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.

Koufax severed ties with the Dodgers in 2003 when a New York Post article wrote of his sexual orientation and implied he was gay. Both the Post and Dodgers were owned by Rupert Murdoch at the time. Koufax resumed his relationship with the Dodgers when Frank McCourt purchased the team in 2004.

It’s always interesting to look back at some of the old Mets. Some great players made a cameo in New York at the end of their careers.

SNIDER; One last moment in the Polo Grounds.

For example, Duke Snider, who hit a three-run homer on this date in 1962 off Diomedes Olivio in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 3-2 victory over St. Louis in the Polo Grounds. It wasn’t quite the Dodgers and Giants in the 1950’s, but for one day there was a Golden Age flashback in New York.

Interesting story about when Snider first joined the Mets. Charlie Neal had No. 4, but wouldn’t give it up to Snider. Snider eventually got the number when Neal was traded.

Snider was popular with Mets’ fans who still held an emotional connection to the Dodgers – no doubt, Fred Wilpon fell into this category. Of course, what makes the Mets unique is their roots are found in two other teams, which has caused the franchise to constantly seek its own identity.

That hasn’t always been easy, and the team took considerable heat in the opening of Citi Field, which featured the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and had little acknowledgement of the Mets’ own history.

The following season, in what really was an ironic and sad turn, Snider was traded to the Giants and retired after that year.